AiCuris Appoints Experienced Business Leader Dr. Sabrina Kuttruff-Coqui as Chief Financial Officer
AiCuris Anti-infective Cures AG
5 min read
WUPPERTAL, GERMANY / ACCESSWIRE / September 1, 2022 / AiCuris Anti-infective Cures AG, a leading company in the discovery and development of drugs against infectious diseases, today announced the appointment of Dr. Sabrina Kuttruff-Coqui as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective September 1, 2022. Dr. Kuttruff-Coqui brings strong biotech leadership experience in driving growth and business strategy. At AiCuris, she will head the finance organization and will be additionally responsible for other areas, including administration, communications, and investor relations. Dr. Kuttruff-Coqui succeeds Holger Schmoll, who will be leaving the Company for personal reasons after finalizing the transition by the end of this year.
Dr. Stefan Oschmann, Chairman of the Board of AiCuris, said: "It is my pleasure to welcome Dr. Sabrina Kuttruff-Coqui as our new CFO. With her proven record in financial transactions, strategy and product development, as well as her commitment to sustainable value creation, she is an ideal match for our executive team at AiCuris. On behalf of the Board, I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Holger Schmoll for his exceptional leadership and great working relationship over more than 15 years, in which AiCuris has become the Powerhouse in Anti-infectives. Without his outstanding contributions, AiCuris would not be where it is today. I am delighted that he will fully support the CFO transition. I wish him all the best in his future endeavors."
Prior to joining AiCuris, Dr. Kuttruff-Coqui held several senior leadership positions at Immatics N.V., which she joined in 2009. In her most recent role as Vice President, Business Planning and Portfolio Strategy, she was responsible for developing and implementing the mid-term corporate strategy and the financial model. Moreover, she developed and maintained the equity story, managed strategic communications, and provided scientific insight on Immatics' programs to the investment community. Before that, Dr. Kuttruff-Coqui was Head of Business Planning and Capital Markets where she served as transaction lead for the Immatics/Arya business combination. Under her leadership, Immatics raised over $245 million from this SPAC transaction and the associated PIPE financing and listed on Nasdaq. During this time, she also served as Risk Management Officer. In her earlier career as Program Director, she relocated to the US, where she served as development lead for the company´s lead asset and supported the establishment of the US subsidiary. Dr. Kuttruff-Coqui studied at Eberhard-Karl-University in Tübingen, Germany, and at Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. She holds a Diploma in biochemistry and received her Ph.D. from the Eberhard-Karl-University in Tübingen, Germany.
"I am delighted to welcome Dr. Kuttruff-Coqui to AiCuris. With a wealth of experience in corporate growth and strategy, as well as strong financial expertise, including a successful Nasdaq listing, she is a great addition to our team," said Dr. Holger Zimmermann, CEO of AiCuris. "AiCuris is poised for an exciting future. We have built a rich pipeline with promising programs, including a phase 3 candidate for the treatment of HSV infections in immunocompromised patients and several other product candidates in earlier clinical and pre-clinical development. Additionally, our first marketed product, PREVYMIS™ (letermovir), a novel therapy for human cytomegalovirus infections licensed to Merck & Co. has continually growing revenues in the multi hundred-million-dollar range with blockbuster potential."
Dr. Sabrina Kuttruff-Coqui, newly appointed CFO of AiCuris, commented: "I am thrilled to join the AiCuris team at this crucial stage of development. With one marketed product and a broad pipeline of anti-viral and anti-bacterial assets in development, AiCuris is ideally positioned to become a global leader in the field of anti-infectives. Expanding on the success of PREVYMIS™, I see an enormous potential in AiCuris´ pipeline assets to sustainably improve the lives of vulnerable patient populations, including patients after transplantation, with microbial resistance, immunocompromised patients and patients suffering from infections without effective treatment options. I am looking forward to working with the team and to contributing to the Company´s success by driving growth and effective execution of strategic goals."
About AiCuris Anti-infective Cures AG
AiCuris, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, was founded in 2006 as a spin-off from Bayer and focuses on the discovery and development of drugs targeting infectious diseases. PREVYMIS™ (letermovir), a first-in-class non-nucleoside cytomegalovirus (CMV) inhibitor acting via a novel mechanism of action, was licensed to MSD in 2012 and is approved in the EU, US, Japan and other parts of the world for the prevention of human CMV infections in adults who received allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. The Company has a broad pipeline of clinical-stage and pre-clinical anti-viral and anti-bacterial product candidates. Its wholly owned lead asset, pritelivir, targeting single- or double-resistant herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections, is in phase 3 clinical development. Additional candidates are in development for the treatment of viruses, such as hepatitis B virus (HBV), adenoviruses and BK virus (BKV), as well as SARS-CoV2 and other viruses with pandemic potential. In the field of antibacterials, AiCuris seeks to develop innovative treatment options for indications with high medical need, including life-threatening, multidrug-resistant, hospital-treated pathogens. Product candidates for antimicrobioal resistance (AMR), diabetic foot ulcers and sepsis are in pre-clinical development.
AiCuris is supported by a strong shareholder base, including lead investor SANTO Holding.
